“Good day.
Please state the purpose of your visit.”
“Business meeting.”
“You…”
I didn’t let the girl at the information desk finish and showed my identification marker on my omni-tool.
She went slightly pale.
“Mr.
Shepard…
It’s a great honor to see you at our branch.
Should I inform Director Smirnov that you’ve arrived?
It’s just…
he has a client right now…”
“I know.
We’re here to talk to that client.
So tell Alexei that I’ve arrived and I have guests.
And if his client isn’t free yet, have them set the table for us.
Nothing too fancy, but drinks and some snacks…”
I looked with slight doubt at the girls accompanying me.
“Yes.
Just no alcohol.”
Jen answered for all of them.
I shot her a quick glance to silently ask, “You got that?” She didn’t disappoint, nodding quickly.
It took less than five minutes after that.
She informed Alexei of our arrival, immediately let us in, explained how to get to his office, and then drinks and snacks were brought to us.
“And this is nothing fancy?”
Rebecca looked at the snacks and drinks set before us with mild surprise.
“Well, I assume the drinks were brewed here.
I don’t deny my representatives small indulgences.
They like quality, expensive drinks?
Fine.
Ordering the best asari tea for every branch costs nothing to the corporate budget, at least compared to our regular orders.
Though sometimes the representatives do go overboard…”
I took a sip of tea, hiding a toothy grin behind the cup.
“…and then their fate is very sad.”
“Hm…”
Jane glared at Rebecca, and she fell silent.
“Jane, don’t worry so much.
I don’t punish people for questions.
And if any of you touch on a serious topic, I’ll just say — corporate secret.
So don’t scare Rebecca with ‘I’ll rot you in the brig’ looks.”
“See?”
Rebecca stuck her tongue out at Jane.
“And what does your corporation actually do?
I’ve just…
heard some rumors.
Weapons, shipbuilding…
colonization…
but that sounds like too much, to me.
I don’t know much about corporations, but…
you can’t be an expert at everything, can you?”
“You’ve come close to a forbidden topic…
but haven’t crossed the line yet.
And to answer your question…
you can and should be an expert at everything.
After all, I’m not the one developing it all — I’m the one who hired the specialists.”
I took a sip of tea, popped a small treat into my mouth, and closed my eyes in pleasure.
Asari really know how to do more than just suggestive outfits; they also make excellent food.
That pleasant borderline of sweetness, where it seems like one more bite would make it cloying, but it never does.
“Producing everything on an industrial scale — well, that’s not possible.
There aren’t enough investments.
No, if I’d sold the controlling stake, like my father once did, I could have started producing not just weapons but other equipment too.
Maybe even enough for industrial shipyards.
But I put so much effort into buying back the controlling stake…”
More precisely, Aria did.
Not in terms of effort for the actual purchase, but in terms of the caning she gave my backside when I couldn’t grasp certain knowledge.
And then I applied that knowledge to regaining the controlling stake — and it was surprisingly easy.
“…that I have no desire to repeat the experience.”
Uh-huh, because Aria would show up, pull out the cane, and beat the knowledge into me through my backside!
Honestly, I have no idea how in canon she could lose Omega.
She’s not your average asari — she’s worth an entire battalion on her own!
“So my corporation mainly deals with weapons sales and colonization.
Those can be combined, because we don’t just send colonists somewhere blindly — we systematically build up the defense of the planets and systems under our control.
Everything else we do only for personal use.
Though we do sell some patents.”
“I see…”
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Alexei entered the office, and behind him I could see a girl in a standard quarian enviro-suit.
“And this is our guest, who wanted to meet you.”
“Tali’Zorah…”
Tali squeaked her name quietly, and I found it endearing.
This is one of my favorite canon characters!
Tali’Zorah! Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
I remember when I played the first game, I really regretted not being able to romance her.
And in the second game!
Wow!
“John Shepard, owner of this modest corporation.”
I allowed myself a smirk.
“So, Miss Tali, you said you had important information you wanted to sell?”
“Yes…
honestly, I originally wanted to sell it to the Shadow Broker, but…
at the last moment, I remembered that your branch is on the Citadel, and that your corporation has helped my people a lot in the last ten years.
So the choice of who to sell it to was obvious.”
“I’m pleased to hear that my efforts aren’t in vain, and that the quarians remember my corporation when they have something important for humanity.
So?”
Under my intent gaze, Tali started fidgeting, embarrassed.
“Well, first, I think you’d be more comfortable sitting down.”
I pointed to a free chair with my hand.
My representative calmly walked behind his desk, turned on his computer screen, and started working.
“Yes…
thank you…”
Tali sat down in the chair, but the embarrassment didn’t disappear.
“…but I’d like to clarify the payment terms.
I’d like something I can present to the Fleet as proof that my Pilgrimage was successful.”
“And considering you’re an Admiral’s daughter, they expect something incredible?”
“Well…
yes…”
She nodded shyly.
“Let’s do this.
If you’ve brought truly important information, we’ll figure out together what exactly you could present to the Fleet.
If it’s something less important, and I can prove it to you, you’ll get a monetary reward and an offer to work for me.
And if it’s something that determines humanity’s survival…”
I looked intently at Tali, who perked up at those last words.
“…then you’ll get a frigate.
Not the latest model, of course, but as you understand, corporations like mine periodically replace ships.
And not because the ones we use have become unserviceable.
So I’ll turn over one of the decommissioned but still usable ships to you.
And to avoid any questions, you’ll assess the ship’s condition yourself.”
“Really?!”
“Yes.”
I nodded curtly, barely containing a smile.
Tali looked so inspired right now…
damn, it felt like if I said she’d have to sleep with me in addition to the information, she’d only ask what position, forgetting her shyness.
And that’s not an exaggeration — her voice and body language genuinely showed it.
Which is understandable.
The Migrant Fleet doesn’t often get the chance to acquire a relatively new ship, even a small one.
“…then I’ll tell you.
My information is about the Reapers.”
Tali took several deep breaths to calm herself, but her voice still trembled with excitement.
“…I, I mean we, when we were flying to the starting point of the Pilgrimage, we spotted a geth ship, and it was very strange.
So we decided to follow them.
Unfortunately, my group died, but…
they managed to destroy the geth, and I was able, before the damaged geth self-destructed, to pull an information packet out of one.”
“Wait…”
Chifuyu raised her hand, stopping Tali, and she shrank back in her seat.
“…I’m no expert, of course, but don’t the geth destroy all data when someone tries to extract information from them?
There’s some kind of elaborate security system…
well, I read about it when I was interested in the geth and your conflict with them.”
“Yes…”
Tali nodded, and it was clear she was extremely surprised that anyone had been interested in her people’s history.
“…that’s true, but I’m a very good technician and hacker, so I managed to get around that problem.
Anyway, the data I wanted to sell is a short recording that I managed to extract from the hacked geth.”
She activated her omni-tool, and we immediately heard a recording.
“”We have achieved a major victory on Eden Prime.
The beacon has brought us one step closer to the Conduit.””
It was Saren’s voice, and he definitely pronounced “Conduit” with a capital letter.
And honestly, right now I was ready to jump for joy like a little girl at a rock concert.
This was the canonical recording!
The very recording that got Saren stripped of his Spectre status!
“”And one step closer to the Reapers.””
The recording ended, and now we could sit in silence and think.
And I had something to think about, because the second voice clearly didn’t belong to Benezia.
“What is this ‘conduit’?”
“Not ‘a conduit’, the Conduit.
Saren clearly wasn’t saying an ordinary word, but some kind of name…
and it seems to me like it’s something related to transport.”
“Transport?”
Everyone, including the quarian, looked at me.
“Well, yes…
a conduit…
it usually connects things and things move through it, doesn’t it?”
“Well…
Jane nodded doubtfully.
“…and considering the beacon, it turns out it’s some kind of Prothean technology.
So it’s some kind of transport system of theirs?”
“Most likely.”
I nodded.
“And the Reapers?”
Rebecca said the name in a thoughtful voice.
“Well…
considering Jane’s visions after contacting the Beacon, the Protheans definitely didn’t call the Reapers anything good.”
“So the recording was useful?”
Tali asked this in a very quiet voice, full of embarrassment.
“That’s hard to say…”
I glanced at Rebecca, and she fell silent.
Smart girl, she understood correctly.
“The recording was useful, but…
not very informative.
You see, not long ago, Saren attacked Eden Prime, which was mentioned in the recording.
And he attacked it in the company of geth.”
“Geth?!”
Tali was shocked and even outraged.
Her voice couldn’t hide it, and angry notes slipped through.
“Yes.
And even after that, it became clear that something was brewing.
Based on your recording, it became clear that something very bad was being planned, but what exactly?
Who is it threatening?
It’s hard to draw any kind of conclusion from the recording.
No, if it had the next waypoint, or if it revealed who the Reapers are, but none of that is here.”
Tali lowered her head.
“Hey, don’t worry.
I’m saying that despite its brevity, the recording is useful.
And while I can’t offer you a ship for it…
maybe I can offer something else?”
“Something else?”
Tali looked at me with interest.
“Yes…
I know that most of your ships are quite old…”
Tali clenched her fists, apparently taking these words as mockery.
But they weren’t.
“…and that they need repairs.
No…”
Raising my hand, I stopped her from interrupting.
“…I’m sure your brilliant technicians can keep the ships operational for a long time yet.
However, doing that without space-dryards is extremely difficult.
And my corporation has such drydocks.
Of course, I can’t provide all the drydocks, but…”
I looked closely at Tali.
“…I’m prepared to provide two drydocks for the quarians, so you can repair your ships there.”
“What’s the catch?”
Tali quickly understood that I wasn’t offering this for nothing.
“I want your Pilgrims, and any other quarians who want to, to work in my colonies, and especially in the drydocks.
Naturally, not for free, but for a decent salary.”
Tali froze…
Actually, I could have pulled this off quite a while ago, and I had planned to, but Aria’s invaluable lessons stopped me.
She told me at great length then that trump cards like this should be kept up your sleeve until the last moment.
And that this would be the simplest and most effective way to recruit Tali.
Not just recruit her, but make her my most loyal follower.
And to my cautious remarks that they wouldn’t have time to prepare, she just said we didn’t need them to.
We needed the quarians to feel indebted to us.
So that when the Reapers came, they would defend our systems instead of fighting the geth.
And that could only be achieved by extending them a significant helping hand, and then providing everything they needed for a comfortable life.
So she did a lot back then to stop me from contacting the Migrant Fleet as soon as I had the chance, and instead only build relations with them through good working conditions for quarians.
“This…
this…
this…”
Tali’s voice trembled.
“Thank you so much!”
She dropped from her chair to her knees and bowed low, her helmet hitting the table, making it shake and the dishes on it rattle.
“Hey, get up!”
I tried to put some sternness in my voice.
“There’s nothing to thank me for yet.
It’s an offer you need to convey to your father, the Admiral.
If everything goes well and he agrees, then I’ll send the information to the drydocks and colonies.
But if he doesn’t…”
“He’ll agree!
He’ll definitely agree!”
At that moment, my omni-tool signaled an incoming call.
It was Anderson.
“Excuse me, I need to answer…”
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